Cornwall Councillor urges Government to rethink scrapping new Perranporth school
The new Secondary School in Perranporth was due to open in 2026 but plans are now on hold after ministers said there is not enough demand for it
Last updated 18th Dec 2025
A leading member of Cornwall Council has issued a passionate plea to the Government to change its mind about scrapping a planned secondary school on the north coast of the Duchy.
A meeting of the council’s Liberal Democrat / Independent coalition cabinet today (Wednesday, November 17) heard that the local authority is working with Cornwall’s four Labour MPs and two Lib Dem MPs to force the Labour Government to make a U-turn on last week’s decision.
The 1,050-pupil Perranporth Academy was earmarked to open in September 2026 after the Department for Education (DfE) said the free school would help to alleviate pressure on the four over-subscribed secondary schools which Perranporth children currently attend in Truro and Newquay.
However, a spokesperson for the DfE said on Friday (December 12): “We have carefully considered all of the evidence and there is not sufficient need for additional places to justify building a whole new school.”
The decision was made as part of a Government announcement to invest at least £3 billion to create tens of thousands of new specialist special educational needs and disability (SEND) places in mainstream schools.
Secretary of state for education Bridget Phillipson said: “To make that investment happen, some mainstream free school projects will not go ahead.”
During a discussion about the planned 4,000-home Langarth Garden Village between Truro and Perranporth, Cornwall Council’s cabinet heard that the now-scrapped Perranporth Academy would be vital for providing education for children living at what will essentially be a new Cornish town.
Cllr Hilary Frank, portfolio holder for children, families and schools, said: “I want to put on record my strong concern at the Government’s announcement that it’s minded to cancel the free school at Perranporth.
“This school is not an optional extra. It’s a really critical part of meeting our future need arising from our planned housing growth including Langarth.
“Failure to deliver that school at Perranporth would mean increased travel times for our children, increased congestion on our roads, increased pressure on our existing schools and it really does risk us not being able to meet legal duty to make sure there are enough school places in the future.
“I really urge the Government to reconsider and to work with us to deliver this school that residents of Langarth and our other communities will need in the future.”
Council leader Cllr Leigh Frost added: “We are working in parallel with our MPs to make sure the Government knows that we need that changed.”
Perranporth Academy was due to be one of 21 free schools across the country announced earlier this decade by the former Conservative government and would have been built on a 8.3-hectare site between Liskey Hill and Bolingey Road, just 650 metres from the centre of Perranporth after planning permission was granted in the summer of 2024.
Plans were ready to go, with the two-year build all set to start when the new Labour Government paused the development soon after planning permission was granted.